The Infinite Dial

Okay, we already know that the "polls" on station Websites are entertainment, not serious research. The sample isn't screened or balanced. Often, the "scale" they offer respondents includes "double barreled" answers that are invalid because they require you to agree with two different statements (e.g., the music rating scale in which one of the choices is "it's my favorite song; I turn the radio up every time it comes on"). But turn your attention anyway to the poll on the Website of new Talk outlet KTNI (the Truth) Denver, the station that made headlines two weeks ago with its opening "Stripper Radio" gambit.

The Truth's opening poll asks, "How would you rate Obama's performance so far?" And the choices? "Poor," "adequate," "mediocre," and "great." So if you are favorably inclined but not willing to go with "great," your most positive choice is middling. And in conversation, many people tend to use "mediocre" as a perjorative. So on a 1-5 scale, your choices are "1, 2, 3, 5" at best.

In most national polls, Obama's overall approval rating is over 50% Not surprisingly, on a conservative talk station's site, 53% of the N=138 respondents (at this writing) opted for poor; 32% chose great. Only 15% went for either of the choices in between, which must say something about the lack of a middle ground in Talk radio.